Study of effect of chromium on titanium dioxide phase transformation

MTiX samples with different atomic chromium percentages were synthesized by sol–gel method and calcined at 400 °C under air. The effects of Cr and temperature on titanium dioxide phase transition were studied. In situ measurement showed the presence of anatase phase for all samples at temperature < 500 °C. Without Cr content, the anatase–rutile transition takes place at 600 °C and the rutile fraction increases with increase of temperature. In the presence of Cr content, rutile phase appeared at 700 °C. Cr2O3 phase was shown only in the case of CrTi20 content at 800 °C which indicates that the segregation remains modest. We have also studied the anatase–rutile transition kinetics by using in situ X-ray measurements. It was found that the anatase phase stability increases as the chromium content increases. Results confirm that the transformation of anatase–rutile is of first order.